COVID RESPONSE
THE Department of Finance (DOF) said it has secured a total of $4.55 billion in newly contracted foreign loans from multilateral lenders and the commercial markets as of mid-May this year, to support efforts on the government’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response.
The DOF said in a statement yesterday the amount in budgetary support financing for the COVID-19 emergency came from loans extended by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank, and the government’s issue of US dollar-denominated global bonds last month.
Of the amount, $1.7 billion came from the ADB, $500 million more was from the World Bank, and another $2.35 billion was raised from the dual-tranche issuance of the Philippines’ global bonds.
Meanwhile, the World Bank also accelerated its disbursement of the $200 million additional financing for the ongoing Social Welfare Development and Reform Project II to the Philippines.
In terms of project loan financing, the Philippines signed a $100 million loan with the World Bank last April for the government’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Project that aims to strengthen the country’s capacity to prevent, detect and respond to the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and boost its national systems for public health preparedness.
The DOF also raised an additional $8 million in grant financing from the ADB to support two projects implemented by the Department of Health and other government agencies dealing with the COVID-19 emergency.
These financing packages for budgetary support, project loan and grants amount to a grand total of $4.858 billion secured as of May 14 by the DOF for the government’s COVID-19 response efforts.
The DOF’s update on these financing packages formed part of President Duterte’s seventh weekly report to the Congress on the use of the additional powers granted to him under Republic Act No. 11469 or the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act.
